Pitti Uomo wrapped up on Friday at Florence’s storied Fortezza da Basso, as the men’s fashion crowd heads to Milan for the next stop in the menswear fashion month.
If the footwear choice of attendees was any indicator – and it often is given the relevance Pitti Uomo street style has as a barometer of men’s trends – the super flat loafer is poised to make a strong comeback for spring 2025.
Inside the fair’s pavilions footwear exhibitors offered a first glimpse at what’s to come next summer, and there was no shortage of new footwear to feast your eyes on.
Here, we round up some of the top shoes at Pitti Uomo’s June 2024 tradeshow.
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Superga
Superga returned to Pitti Uomo for the first time in four years with no new products to display. Instead, it mounted an exhibition dedicated to its 120-year history hinged on the four pillars that have granted it longevity. They include the use of rubber, the vulcanization process, the mountain inspiration and sport, especially its link with tennis since the ‘70s.
“I don’t believe many brands have done this in the past, coming to Pitti Uomo with no new product on display,” said Lorenzo Boglione, vice president of the BasicNet fashion group which owns Superga. He characterized the move as pivotal in reconnecting with the brand history after the footwear firm pursued burgeoning opportunities in the women’s market over the past 10 years, somewhat neglecting its key codes.
“The goal for the future is to develop a brand and not a shoe style,” Boglione said, while acknowledging that the signature canvas trainer is going to remain Superga’s hero product. Newly installed global brand manager Marco Tamponi added that the rebooted course is aimed at re-balancing the brand’s footprint in the men’s and kid’s categories.
The exhibit also featured a spotlight on the 2750 model which is marking its centennial next year.
“We will come back to Pitti Uomo next January with the first collection based on the four pillars and then in June to celebrate the 2750’s milestone,” Tamponi offered.
Garmont Uncharted
Mountain hiking footwear firm Garmont, a newcomer to the fair, is making a stronger push in the lifestyle and fashion segments by debuting its Garmont Uncharted division, a hub for collaborations and experimental shoe projects triggered by a seminal co-branding the brand orchestrated in 2023 with the sustainably-minded footwear firm ACBC.
Project manager Elisa Buratto was upbeat about buyers’ reception highlighting how the outdoorsy component core to the Garmont DNA is catering to modern consumers’ penchant for an active lifestyle and can well translate in a lifestyle offering to be distributed via fashion multibrand boutiques. Cue the two iterations of the hero footwear design called 9.81 Urban drawing inspiration from trail and fast hiking shoes revisited in the performance-heavy Engage version with a mesh upper part and Vibram Durmast outsole and the ‘90s-inspired Speed style with a gorpcore appeal.
The brand also expanded its ACBC collab adding two new styles, including the Lagom and Element sneaker, the former featuring cork accents and the latter standing out for its outsole with motifs nodding to key natural elements made of NexX4tm, a JV International patented clear liquid polymer.
Flower Mountain
Although footwear is in flux, especially in the premium and contemporary market, Falc’s chief executive officer Salina Ferretti underscored that the Marche, Italy-based company has been prepping for its 50th anniversary this year with a proactive attitude. “We could already feel that 2024 was not going to be a complex year,” she said. “We are consolidating our position in the market while continuing to innovate because we don’t want the company to look back,” Ferretti offered.
The group operates the Voile Blanche, W6YZ and Flower Mountain brands. The latter worked its second collaboration with British streetwear brand Universal Works for spring and introduced a new theme called Kyoto Garden with Japanese-inspired floral motifs decking the brand’s signature designs including the Fami sneakers with a curved outsole and rope-like laces reminding of a low-top snowboard boot, as well as a new shape with vulcanized sole called Nobolis.
Pantofola D’Oro
The storied luxury soccer shoe brand Pantofola D’Oro is headed stateside and attended Pitti Uomo with more of its lifestyle products – a category it has been expanding since – and business news. Opening as a shop-in-shop inside the P448 flagship on New York’s Fifth Avenue. The opening marks a push in the U.S. after the footwear firm lost part of its footprint in the country in the aftermath of the pandemic. Aiming to further fuel awareness Pantofola d’Oro has linked with the Venice Beach Football Club unveiling a five-piece capsule collection of soccer and fashion shoes, as well as apparel. A pop-up on Melrose Avenue is lined up for later this month, CEO Kim Williams offered. Fashion-wise the spring collection hinged on ‘80s minimalist trainers and tennis-inspired styles including the Superstar low-top available in suede and calf leather and myriad nuances.
Doucal’s
After marking its 50th anniversary last year, Doucal’s has been attuning to market demand to better serve its clients and dodge the headwinds in the luxury space. Part of its strength, CEO Gianni Giannini said, is the widespread penetration in its hero markets, which include Europe, particurlary Italy and northerne countries, and the Middle East. For spring it reworked its signature penny loafer in the Mario half-lined design available in five suede colorways and three calfskin styles. The suede loafer was also reinterepted in a boat shoe hybrid in suede with tassels and a contrasting off-white rubber sole.
Paraboot
Longevity is very much ingrained in Paraboot’s DNA, with its hero Michael derby design having stood the test of time. For spring, the shoemaker reinvented it via a collaboration with Toiles du Soleil, a French maker of textiles for beach furniture, and expanded its assortment of the traditional boat shoe in earthy tones of brown, sage beige and teal green, among others.
Ellesse
Since rebooting the brand image and positioning through the LSR project on the namesake sneaker design, Ellesse has been gaining steam securing about 150 top-notch multi brand boutiques in Italy, Europe and North America, in the words of commercial and marketing director Alessandro Perletti. For spring the archival Laser model reissued and renamed into LRS was revisited according to five themes including a quintessentially Italian gelato inspiration that resulted in a mouthwatering color palette. The Court tennis-inspired pack embedded the sport’s signature shades of green, red and blue with more colorful version of the chunky shoe were aimed at female clients and will debut for Women’s Day.
